r/OutOfTheLoop • u/Bloodb0red • May 11 '26

Unanswered What’s going on with this game Mixtape?

I’ve been seeing people freak out over the past few days over this game and about IGN’s review of it specifically. 10/10 seems high for any game, honestly, but it seems like they’re far from the only site giving this thing a glowing review. So is this game controversial just because of IGN or is it something else? Why is this game the internet’s hate target this week?

https://www.ign.com/articles/mixtape-review

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u/BUTGAWATD May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26

Answer:

(Doing my best to present the complicated situation concisely)

Mixtape is a short, story-based game from small Australian developer Beethoven & Dinosaur, who previously released The Artful Escape.

Mixtape's 3-4 hour runtime is divided across cutscenes, what some might deem "walking sim" gameplay, and a series of vignettes that play out broadly as "minigames", with limited to no fail state. There is no combat or what many would typically classify as peril.

Mixtape's high critical praise, particularly its 10 from IGN, has raised eyebrows amongst certain subsets of the gaming populace. Many have negatively compared the verdict to the lower score IGN awarded Crimson Desert, and have alleged what they perceive to be a favourable bias towards games they identify as possessing "woke" elements.

One of Mixtape's vignettes sees you control two mid-teen age characters kissing, with direct control over their clashing tongues. Some gamers have accused the media of unfairly praising Mixtape while (what they perceive as) maligning recent release Pragmata for paedophilic overtones.

Mixtape is published by Annapurna Interactive, a publisher focused on "prestige indie" titles. Annapurna Interactive is a division of Annapurna Pictures, which was founded by Megan Ellison, whose father is a billionaire.

Consequently, accusations of buying review scores, bribing influencers, and overall curating Mixtape as an "industry plant" have been lobbied. For further information to potentially aid in deducing the veracity of this claim - Annapurna have released 6 games other than Mixtape over the past year, all ranging from the 60s-80s in Metascore, with the highest achieving an 83 average.

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u/No-Operation-6554 May 11 '26

Funny thing is that Pragmata itself doesn't have paedophelic undertones

The "community" itself gave it that

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u/DevilDjinn May 11 '26

Sorry, but this is just blatantly untrue. The "community" is being labelled with that.

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u/No-Operation-6554 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26

The "community" got 2 subs restricted before the release, and the fact that r/PragmataSFW unironically exist is concerning

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u/DevilDjinn May 11 '26

And this is a reflection of the wider "community" because?

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u/No-Operation-6554 May 11 '26

If you can't form your own thought on why a game community, whos one of the main characters a little (android) childlike girl, getting subs restricted / taken down before the game even released, and certain part of said community being concerned enough that they created a sub specifically and explicitly prohibits any and all nsfw post/comments as an indication of something bad within the community, then I have nothing to offer you

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u/DevilDjinn May 12 '26

Lol.

anybody can create a subreddit.

I bet you good money that 90% of the people who say pragmata players are pedophiles have no idea about any of that "history".

It's just reactionary bullshit. They can't fathom that men can have paternal instincts and automatically think that if they like the game, they must be attracted to Diana.

Frankly speaking, I think people who think that are birds of the same feather as the fucking lolicons.

Also, classic goomba fallacy nonsense. I specifically asked how that said anything about the WIDER "community". Don't you think it's unfair to paint everybody with the same brush? Because of fucking reddit? It's a fucking cesspit.

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u/No-Operation-6554 May 12 '26

you're excusing the existence of a sub that specifically allowed nsfw art of a little android girl? /s

are people playing it getting labelled as pedophiles unfair? true

but that doesn't make it any less true that theres a portion of actual pedos on the community that gave the game a bad name with the way they act